Beach Buoy and Another Dog set off on foot at 4-04 p.m.
It was calm.
The calm after the storm.
They crossed a sunny car park at 4-22.
On this calm afternoon, the sea was still rough.
The Seaton Carew Wreck had been exposed once more.
The beach had that after storm look.
A gentleman approached.
He walked with the aid of stick.
"Hello there."
"Hello."
Beach Buoy and the man chatted for around twenty minutes.
The gentleman's wife approached with their Border Collie.
They were both 78, from Darlington.
They usually come to Seaton Carew on a Wednesday.
"Sometimes its just us and the dog."
His Dad had bought a coble when he retired from the railway.
He also bought the end cabin at Paddy's Hole at South Gare from a Tees Pilot.
The gentleman was waiting for a hip replacement, hated walking with a stick.
He had done the coast to coast both ways twice.
Climbed all over the Lake District and once walked from Filey to Whitley Bay.
They wished each other well.
They went their separate ways.
2 X 78.
A lovely chat.
Beach Buoy thought about what the beach does.
Walking down a street the men wouldn't have stopped to chat and share so many stories.
The beach does that.
🤗
Full circle.
Someone had been spinning the large piece of driftwood that seems to have taken up residence on the beach.
They walked the Rocky Road to The Sandy Slope.
"Afternoon Mate."
It was 5-08.
Beach Buoy added some stones
He patted
THE
stone.
Beach Buoy was relieved to see that the stack was intact.
The stormy sea had been wild.
It was still breaking eight steps out in to the bay.
Beach Buoy had never seen them actually crash over the Sea Serpent Marker before.
He hoped the creature was safe down below.
Beach Buoy sat on the wobbly driftwood plank.
He drank coffee
He didn't think that he would be sat here today.
The sun was out.
Midges swarmed around the still air
The morning felt two seasons away now.
Coffee drank, it was
"See you mate."
They returned to the beach.
The late evening sun gave a gorgeous light.
It reflected well in a bay of spray.
They headed back, slowly.
BEACH BUOY.